ML14170A651
| ML14170A651 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Harris, Brunswick, Robinson  |
| Issue date: | 04/21/1980 |
| From: | James O'Reilly NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II) |
| To: | Jackie Jones CONSUMERS ENERGY CO. (FORMERLY CONSUMERS POWER CO.) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8005210718 | |
| Download: ML14170A651 (4) | |
Text
o UNITED STATES 0
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION H1 101 MARIETTA ST., N.W.,SUITE 3100 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303 In Reply Refer To:
PR 2 1 1980 RII:JPO 50-325, 50-324 50-400, 50-401 50-402, 50-403 Carolina Power and Light Company Attn:
J. A. Jones Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer 411 Fayetteville Street Raleigh, NC 27602 Gentlemen:
This Information Notice is provided as an early notification of a possible significant matter. It is expected that recipients will review the information for possible applicability to their facilities. No specific action or response is requested at this time. If further NRC evaluations so indicate, an IE Circular or Bulletin will be issued to recommend or request specific licensee actions. If you have questions regarding this matter, please contact the Director of the appropriate NRC Regional Office.
Sincerely, James P. O'Reilly Director
Enclosures:
- 1.
IE Information Notice No. 80-15
- 2.
List of Recently Issued IE Information Notices 800 521 1-'
APR 2 1980 Carolina Power and Light Company
-2 cc w/encl:
A. C. Tollison, Jr.
Plant Manager Box 458 Southport, North Carolina 28461 R. Parsons, Site Manager Post Office Box 101 New Hill, North Carolina 27562 R. B. Starkey, Jr., Plant Manager Post Office Box 790 Hartsville, South Carolina 29550 7,..>--.~.'~S~A
SSINS No.:
6870 Accession No.
UNITED STATES 8002280660 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 April 21, 1980 IE Information Notice No. 8015 AXIAL (LONGITUDINAL) ORIENTED CRACKING IN PIPING On March 8, 1980, the Commonwealth Edison Company reported to the NRC that slight leakage was observed from the "A" loop core spray injection piping during a reactor coolant system leakage test at their Quad-Cities Unit 2 Nuclear Power Station. The source of leakage was subsequently identified to be located adjacent to a shop weld joining a 900 elbow and a wedge section of elbow material used to extend the elbow to 1050.
Subsequent ultrasonic inspections revealed additional cracking in several other elbows in "A" and "B" core spray loops.
The cracks are located adjacent to welds and oriented transverse to the weld in the axial (longitudinal) piping direction. The affected elbows have been removed and currently failure analyses are in progress. Preliminary results from liquid penetrant examinations of the elbow interior surface in the counter bore/weld root area revealed axial oriented cracks on both sides of the weld in the counter bores adjacent to the weld roots. From the limited metallography performed to date, the cracking mode appears to be intergranular stress corrosion cracking. The cracking, however, only appears to be slightly branched. A determination as to whether or not the cracking extends into and across the welds cannot be made at this time.
It is significant to point out that these service sensitive lines, as defined by NUREG 313, had been.examined on an augmented basis per NUREG 313 requirements.
Two of the affected welds were inspected ultrasonically at the current outage prior to the leakage being observed at the pressure test with no indication of cracking reported. Further ultrasonic examinations, using standard ASME Section XI methods, performed after discovery of the leak clearly revealed the cracking (approximately 100% over the reference level).
Licensees are requested to inform NDE inspection personnel of the above stated information and to emphasize the need for care when performing circumferential UT scans of the weld and adjacent areas in piping components.
Particular importance should be stressed when the examinations are performed on BWR service sensitive 304 stainless steel piping and on PWR 304 stainless steel piping in stagnant systems.
This Information Notice is provided as an early notification of a possibly significant matter that is still under review by the NRC staff. It is expected that recipients will review the information for possible applicability to their facility. No specific action or response is requested at this time. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact the Director of the appropriate NRC Regional Office.
IE Information Notice No. 80-15 Enclosure April 21, 1980 RECENTLY ISSUED IE INFORMATION NOTICES Information Subject Date Issued To Notice No.
Issued 80-15 Axial (Longitudinal) 4/21/80 All power reactor Oriented Cracking in facilities with an Piping OL or CP 80-14 Safety Suggestions From 4/2/80 All power reactor Employees facilities with an OL or CP 80-13 General Electric Type SBM 4/2/80 All light water reactor Control Swiches - Defective facilities holding power Cam Followers reactor OLs or CPs 80-12 Instrument Failure Causes 3/31/80 All holders of power Opening of PORV and Block reactor OLs and CPs Valve 80-11 General Problems with ASCO 3/14/80 All holders of Reactor Valves in Nuclear Application OL, CP, fuel fabrica Including Fire Protection tion and processing Systems facilities 80-10 Partial Loss of Non-Nuclear 3/7/80 All power reactor Instrument System Power facilities holding Supply During Operation OLs and CPs 80-09 Possible Occupational 3/7/80 All holders of Health Hazard Associated power reactor OLs with Closed Cooling Systems and near term CPs 80-08 The States Company Sliding 3/7/80 All power reactor Link Electrical Terminal facilities with an OL Block or a CP 80-07 Pump Shaft Fatigue Cracking 2/29/80 All Light Water Reactor Facilities holder power reactor OLs and CPs 80-06 Notification of Significant 2/27/80 All holders of Reactor Events OLs and to near term OL applicants 80-05 Chloride Contamination 2/8/80 All licensees of nuclear of Safety Related Piping power reactor facilities and applicants and holders of nuclear power reactor CPs